Touch of Love:
Short Story Collection

byChelle Cordero

Even works of fiction reflect on the author’s life and experiencesand Touch of Lovewas truly inspired by lots of personal stories.
Read on to see why each of these short pieces
hold very special meaning for me…

An Empty House: You never know what tomorrow will bring. This is a personal essay about coping with and moving on with the “New Normal”.

The night before our 41st wedding anniversary my wonderful and loving husband was rushed to the hospital with a stroke. It was just after midnight on our anniversary that the Dr said the next 48 hours would be critical. He spent months in rehab and I feel very blessed that he was able to come home. This man has always been my hero (and the man I have based every one of my book heroes on!). It’s been a journey and we are on this road together.

The Lost Love: Rejected for her Mexican heritage by the teen-age boy she had a crush on, Lindsay put it behind her. So how come, when they wind up at the same college years later, Lindsay can’t get over her anger at the humiliation? And will Brad ever forgive himself for his callous behavior?

I think I was in 7th grade when I had my first REAL date with a boy, you know when he meets you at your apartment, says HI to your mom, you go out together and HE PAYS. We were walking to the bowling alley a few blocks away from my home (and closer to his) when we saw his mom on the street bringing her grocery shopping home; he seemed to be proud to introduce me. It was a very nice, innocent date. That night he called me on the phone, he sounded all choked up. He told me that when his mother heard my last name, my HISPANIC last name, she forbid him from seeing me again! I was so angry the next school day when I saw him in the hallway, he turned the other way and looked embarrassed. I had heard some people call others with not-nice racial names, but that was the first time I ever knew such a strong prejudice directed against me.

The Dead Guy in the Park: An almost end-of-shift call leads a paramedic and her partner to a dead guy in the park. All she has to do is pronounce him so that the coroner can come get the body. What could possibly go wrong?
* includes the special bonus Spanish translationEl Difunto del Parque

I was a NYS EMT for almost 30 years and I had a lot, A LOT, of different and all interesting calls. One morning I took a call to respond to an apparent suicide, assumed DOA, to pronounce (in our county EMTs were permitted to do this). I got there and ran through all of the standard checks I had to do to sign off for the coroner. The patient was definitely deceased and yet “something” didn’t seem right to me, but I was overruled by others at the scene. I signed off knowing that there would be an autopsy anyway. But I’ve always wondered?

Rekindled: Cynthia and Daniel were college sweethearts torn apart by tragedy. A lifetime later they bump into each other again — Is this their second chance at love?

Although the story, Rekindled, is PURE fiction, the character of Cynthia was inspired by a very dear childhood friend of mine; she passed away suddenly a few years ago, I will just use her initials here, DL, to protect her family’s privacy, DL left school quite suddenly when her parents were killed by a hit-and-run driver and there was no one to raise her younger siblings. DL devoted her life to her family and did finally find her own love-of-her-life many years later.

A Date with Mistletoe: Sometimes you find that it’s the “Unanswered Prayers” that are the best things to ever happen. When confronted by the man of yesterday alongside the man who means the world to her, there is no doubt in Rachel’s mind that she has the best.

I had been seeing my on-again-off-again boyfriend for almost two years. He kept proposing but I wasn’t ready to settle down and that was ONE of the biggest problems we had in our relationship. We were on-again and I thought happy. I called his house one morning to wish him a happy birthday, since he worked nights I was hoping to catch him before he went to bed. I was surprised when a woman answered the phone and even more surprised when she said she was his wife. I was humiliated and devastated. I thought my life was over — far from it. I met my loving husband not long after and after only two weeks of dating we were in love and engaged. (To this day it has been a terrific love affair) Several years later I was making a business call for work unaware of who would answer the phone, although my last name was different he recognized my voice — I let him know I was using my MARRIED name. He asked me how things were and told me he was divorced… AND THEN HE ASKED ME OUT ON A DATE! I said NO. There was never a doubt in my mind that I wound up with the better man.

He is My Brother…: Who can help save the life of a beloved family member? Prayers, hopes and a plea for help.

This is just an honest to G-d request for help for a member of our family who desperately needs a kidney transplant.

Always, One More Time: Disowned by her parents because of an interracial love affair, Callie Sanders is left alone to raise her son after his father, Jimmy Bernerd, dies fighting in a war on the other side of the world. Desperate to give her son a family she goes to the Bernerd household — what she finds is a second chance at love, acceptance, and family.

Moved by the heartbreaking reports of military losses from the latest conflict leaving many single parents left alone to raise children and frustrated with the increased racial tensions of the last few years, I created Callie Sanders and put her into the dual situation. I hope my readers will read this story with compassion and acceptance. My favorite character is Mama Bernerd, she is a very strong, resolute and loving matriarch of her family who is capable of showing enormous compassion for others.

The story continues…Annie’s Karma,
the sequel to Karma Visited,
is available!

Simultaneous Release!
Print and All E-book Editions

Annie’s Karma by Chelle Cordero

Annie Furman moves on from her past and into her future with Undersheriff Dave Turner. Her gifts – or are they her curse? – grow stronger, and she finds out that she is not alone in the realm of astral travel. Dave saved her life, now she has to fight another ‘traveler’ to save Dave… if she survives.

PRE-RELEASE REVIEW

Annie’s Karma is a super followup novel to Karma Visited. I was intrigued by many things that evolved and expanded throughout the book, not the least of which is the incredibly detailed (although fictional, I must guess) accounts of astral travel, alongside the thriller aspects of the story.
~ Karen Mayes, Beta Reader

Chelle Cordero strikes a winning combination of romance and suspense in this medical crime
thriller. Detailed research and characterizations coupled with a break-neck
pace create a hard-to-put-down-read.

Katharina is a translator and aspiring writer, currently attempting to
finish her first novel but constantly distracted with short stories. Her career
as a translator started in the video games industry where she could combine her
passion of gaming with her love for language. When Katharina’s not busy messing
up crochet figures without patterns, she enjoys playing RPGs and strategy games
or reading, especially fantasy, thrillers and humorous books.

Matt Garratti, a
paramedic from New York, moves his wife and son to North Carolina to work at
his dream job as a flight medic. Pakistani born Sudah, his wife, receives
frosty stares and insensitive comments from their new neighbors.

Before long, Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or
bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.

REVIEW

FIVE STARS

A Non-Stop Thriller that Will Leave You Longing for More

Tracy Riva

… Matt and Sudah face obstacles that severely test their relationship and their marriage. I do not want to go into anymore of the specifics here, but while Matt and Sudah’s relationship plays an
important role in the book, the story is much more of an extremely well written thriller and I definitely recommend reading it.

In Hyphema, author Chelle Cordero meets
headlong a number of real problems facing her characters. She doesn’t
sugar-coat cultural differences and prejudice. The series of incidents and the
deaths faced by Matt and Sudah cause them to face these problems and gives the
love story a depth well-done.

New Expanded Edition NOW IN PRINT!

A Chaunce of Riches

by Chelle Cordero

Ben Johnson was hired as a bodyguard for a rich widow and her kid, but he never expected to be working for the woman who had abandoned him just when he had needed her the most. Damn it all, he still wanted her. Samantha Chaunce never thought she would have to explain why she married the rich man instead of Ben. Or that her husband had been murdered…and Ben was the prime suspect.

REVIEW

FIVE STARS A Must Read

LAS Reviewer – originally published on Long and Short Reviews

Nothing is simple in the complex tale of love, danger, and this shared, almost-mourned, past. …the two main characters are both strong, edgy people, and their history together creates a rather unusual relationship between the two. There is anger, resentment, yet, somehow, there is an enduring trust that becomes more and more important in the face of danger.

The very focused plot keeps us madly turning the pages, right to the very end. Yet, it’s the romantic in us that is waiting, and so hoping, that they are both the people we think they are…that somehow, out of all this emotional clutter, disaster and more, they can find their way to true feeling. The story is simply super on all counts. Mark A Chaunce of Riches a Must-Read.

A Chaunce of Riches by Chelle Cordero is now available as an AUDIOBOOK on Audible, iTunes, and on Amazon! Also in All Ebook Formats and Print Editions.

Ben Johnson was hired as a bodyguard for a rich widow and her kid, but he never expected to be working for the woman who had abandoned him just when he had needed her the most. Damn it all, he still wanted her. Samantha Chaunce never thought she would have to explain why she married the rich man instead of Ben. Or that her husband had been murdered…and Ben was the prime suspect.

Review

FIVE STARS

A Must Read

Nothing is simple in the complex tale of love, danger, and this shared, almost-mourned, past… the two main characters are both strong, edgy people, and their history together creates a rather unusual relationship between the two. There is anger, resentment, yet, somehow, there is an enduring trust that becomes more and more important in the face of danger.

The very focused plot keeps us madly turning the pages, right to the very end. Yet, it’s the romantic in us that is waiting, and so hoping, that they are both the people we think they are… that somehow, out of all this emotional clutter, disaster and more, they can find their way to true feeling. The story is simply super on all counts. Mark A Chaunce of Riches a Must-Read. ~LAS Reviewer, originally published on Long and Short Reviews

A Chaunce of Riches audiobook is narrated by Barry Newman, professional voice artist and producer, residing in Florida. Barry has come to audiobook industry after years of both writing and voicing radio and TV commercials, and has this to say about his work: “I truly enjoy reading a well written story and because of my background I am always thinking about what the listener is hearing. Putting myself in that position I must admit that many times I stop in the middle of a paragraph or sentence asking myself ‘Would I want to hear it that way?’ – our guess is that listeners will give him a resounding YES.